Cap Shawl Finished

One week later, and one massive frogging later than planned, I am finally finished with the Cap Shawl. Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace

Needles: Susan Bates DPN size 4 and KP Options size 4 with various length cables.

Time: Just a little over 7 weeks, due to a mistake in the edging and having to frog 1/3 of the way back around.

More photos and stats are available on my blog.

Cynder

A new start

I've been wanting to knit another shawl. Shawl knitting must be at least as addictive as sock knitting. Once you finish one, well, you're sunk. They're so wonderfully satisfying to make! I have this green mystery yarn...


I've had it for years. Found it recently when I was digging through my stash. I think it's a wool blend, but don't even know that much for sure. It's certainly soft, and it has a nice sheen to it. It's a braid or chain or something, not a twist, so has an interesting texture, too. Plus, on top of all that, it's slippery as all get out. I've already dropped a stitch, and had to back up a bit to recover it properly. I'll definitely be operating with lifelines for this one. I'm only up to row 27 of the handsome triangle on page 32, but wanted to show you. Totally jazzed. New shawl project on the needles. I'm a happy camper.


Laura

spider's-web shawl

Pattern: Spider’s-web shawl
Size: Half hexagon
Finished Measurements: approx. 75” across top, 24” from middle center down to bottom of shawl
Yarn: silk merino hand painted lace from Yarn Ahoy etsy store in color chocolate cinnamon, 1 skein
Needles: 4.5 mm, 5mm and 5.5 mm circular addi turbo needles
Modifications: ended shawl after working Chart C once using 5.5 mm needles (the pattern calls for this chart to be worked 4 more times in 6 mm needles, resulting in a completed half hexagon 84” x 36”), single crochet bind off

I’m not sure what drives me to knit lace. A burst of passion for the delicate yarn and interesting stitches carries me through the bulk of a lace project. What is it that calls you to gather lace weight yarn and needles and find a seat next to good light? In this case I was drawn to the shawl featured on page 42 of VLT – the idea of strolling in a lush garden draped in hand knitted lace, the simple Barège pattern highlighted by the surrounding greenery. It speaks of leisure and elegance, a feeling that I wanted to try to recreate with my needles. This is the first time I used variegated lace weight yarn and I think it worked well in this pattern, but in general it’s a risky endeavor, no? The blocking process didn’t go as smoothly as usual: the yarn bled a lot in the sink, I really could have used blocking wires to get the hexagon shape perfect. I didn’t knit the last four repeats of Chart C – I had my fill of the Barège pattern and realized that the finished size (84”) would mean coming up with a creative blocking surface plan.



Layers of lace & tissue, ready to be mailed to its recipient.

Cross posted at The Daily Purl.

Blocking Lace

I got my new KnitPicks catalog today and there was an interesting article in it about blocking lace. A more detailed article can be found in pdf format on their website, along with a pdf intruction sheet on building a blocking frame. I'm not affiliated with KnitPicks -- I just thought this was good info and worth a look.

Double the pleasure.......

Double Border Scarf (pg 104)

Yarn: Rowan's Kidsilk Haze

Colorway: Candy Girl

Needle Size: 6

Blocked size: 19x57

Here she is, the second of my Double Border Scarves. After having done a previous one, this one seemed to move right along. It took a little over a week to do, most of the progress came on the weekends. I finished this one up Saturday afternoon and she went immediately to blocking. As usual, I failed to capture the true color of this yarn....it's fuchsia, quite lovely. I only had two skeins of the Kidsilk so I went down a size in the needle and had enough to do 19 repeats of the pattern instead of the 20 called for. It's about 10 inches shorter than my first version (see here to compare) but I think it's still a nice size scarf. It goes into the Christmas cache for now, I think the recipent will be thrill when she gets it.

Melon is Blocked

I used JaegerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk lace weight in violet on size 7 needles.

From Cherry Leaf to Handsome Triangle

My first attempt at knitting a shawl from this book has been abandoned. This is the Shoulder Shawl in the Cherry Leaf Pattern from page 134, but after noticing the "stripe" going through it, I tossed it into a bag and put it in a "time out".

The yarn is variegated Graceful laceweight yarn I purchased at Stitches West from the Yarn Place. When I saw the skein, I fell in love with it and I still do love the yarn, but all the color changes were gradual until the "stripe" section. The yarn was a dream to work with, but since I don't like the look of the shawl, I've given it up for something else.

This is the beginnings of A Handsome Triangle on page 32. The yarn is dark navy Grignasco Regina that I purchased when I was with Laura at our LYS. I've completed 80 of the 212 rows and although it says it's an intermediate pattern, I'm really not finding it all that difficult. Maybe the practice from the other shawl helped though. If all goes well, this should be a nice present for my mother-in-law (mum) for her June birthday.

On a side note, if you click the photo to make larger, you'll notice the perfect laceweight stitchmarkers from Team Entrelac. There's not a single open gap or rough edge (burr), so they are ideal!